Thirty Kisses: Walk Through the Flowers
by Muffles
Summary: Written for the "Thirty Kisses" community. Zelgadis has a dream that holds a symbolic meaning which involves a large field of flowers and Amelia. Theme 6, The space between dream and reality.


Author's Notes: You can come up with the strangest things just from walking on a hill. o.O; That's how the idea for this fic was spawned, actually. I have to walk on a hill to get to my bus and this time of year the hill gets a lot of pretty wild flowers. While I was walking I just thought, "I wish I didn't have to step on so many of them." And then this fic idea came. I realized that it fit one of the themes at thirty kisses and here it is now... This one is Theme #6, The space between dream and reality.

I'd also like to take this time to thank everyone that's reviwed my "Thirty Kisses" series, so here it is... Thank you! You've really boosted my confidence in writing, and if the formatting would allow me to put in a happy face emoticon, I would be doing so right now. Also, thanks to Amelia F. Hook for translating my stories into Spanish.

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers or it's characters. Slayers is owned by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi and some other people that are not me.

* * *

Zelgadis found himself in a meadow. It was a bright, beautiful, Spring day with a clear blue sky. Not too hot, not too cool. The strange thing about the whole thing was that he was surrounded by flowers. Everywhere he looked, nameless white flowers sprouted from the meadow as far as the eye could see. He seemed to be standing in the only spot unoccupied by flowers. 

"…Odd." He mumbled. Rather than stop and admire the scenery, or try to figure out how it was possible, he just started walking. Maybe once he got to where he could see past the flowers he'd be able to determine where he was.

Suddenly, something startled him. It only took a second for his mind to register what it was. It was a scream, that of a child… He began looking around himself sharply for the source, but he couldn't see anyone but himself in the meadow.

He finally realized where the scream was coming from… He looked down. He wasn't sure how it was possible, but it seemed like the scream was coming from some flowers he had just stepped on. They didn't have mouths to scream with, but he knew that's where it was coming from.

He quickly took an awkward step backwards, to the only spot on the meadow without flowers. The flowers he stepped on stopped screaming and just seemed to whimper as they remained crushed against the ground.

"What the…" Zelgadis stared at the trampled flowers, and then at the miles of flowers surrounding him. Suddenly the peacefulness of the meadow seemed to disturb him. He wasn't going to try walking anywhere if it meant that he would have to hear _that_ again. He looked back to the flowers that were still whimpering. But that meant that he wouldn't be able to go anywhere. He was stuck.

Suddenly he heard a voice in the distance. A cheerful, familiar voice saying, "Zelgadis-san!"

He spotted her far off running towards him, but somehow, despite her pace, she managed not to step on any flowers and she did it with ease. She slowed down once she was closer and spoke again. "Hi, Zelgadis-san! Isn't this place pretty?"

For some reason, Zelgadis found himself dumbstruck. "Amelia… How did you… Where are we?"

Amelia stepped closer, still managing not to step on a single flower. She looked confused, but it wasn't because of Zelgadis' question. She'd pretty much ignored that. "Zelgadis-san, what's wrong? Why aren't you moving?"

At first Zelgadis stared at her like the answer should have been the most obvious thing in the world… Well, it _should _ have! But she still looked confused. Finally, he sighed and answered, "If I move, I'll step on the flowers." He pointed to the flowers he had trampled earlier and continued, "…How are you able to walk around here without stepping on any at all?" Zelgadis felt odd for saying something like that… After all, why should he care if he stepped on some flowers, even if they _did_ scream when he did it? He was a heartless magic using swordsman, he wasn't supposed to care.

Amelia's face lightened in realization, "Oh, I see! I know why you can't walk through the flowers without stepping on them, Zelgadis-san."

Zelgadis waited for her to explain, but she didn't. She was just looking at him expectantly. "Well?" He prompted.

Now she looked confused again. "Don't you know too, Zelgadis-san? I thought it was easy to figure out…" She took his silence for a 'No' then said simply, as if it explained everything, "It's because you don't let yourself. You don't let yourself walk through the flowers because you also don't let yourself be happy…"

Now Zelgadis stared at her… He was beginning to feel mocked by this whole situation. "Happy? What does that have to do with stepping on flowers!"

"If you were happy you could just walk through them, like me…" Amelia could tell that Zelgadis was starting to become angry, so she decided to explain. "Okay… At first the happiness was just there. You didn't really care about it…" She gestured around her at all the flowers before continuing, "But once your happiness got stepped on…" She gestured to the flowers he had stepped on earlier, "You never wanted that to happen again, so you wouldn't let yourself be happy for fear that your happiness would get stepped on again, but by doing that you're _still_ stepping on your happiness by not allowing yourself to ever be happy. If you think that way, whenever you take a step you'll always step on the flowers. You can't walk through the flowers unless you let yourself."

Zelgadis just stared in awe. That wasn't something that he would normally think of, or even admit to himself but still…It made a lot of sense.

Amelia just smiled at him, as if she knew what he was thinking, then continued her explanation. "We all step on some flowers sometimes. I stepped on a lot of flowers once and I didn't want to move either…" She kneeled next to the now, practically dead flower that he had stepped on to begin with. Somehow, even though she was kneeling, she managed not to disturb any of the flowers. She gently lifted the flower up and continued, "But now I've learned how to walk through the flowers and how to fix the flowers that I do step on…" She placed a soft kiss on the petals of the near-dead flower. In response the flower started to lift itself up again, no longer wilting. In just a few moments the flower was alive and healthy again, as if it had never been stepped on.

Amelia stood up and smiled at Zelgadis. "I can teach you how to walk through the flowers too! It's not that hard." She held out her hand along with the offer.

Somewhere in the back of Zelgadis' mind he thought that all of this shouldn't have been possible.. But at the same time he started to notice all the spaces between the flowers, spaces he could have easily walked through instead of stepping on the flowers. Everything suddenly felt as if it were in slow motion. He could feel his hand extend to take hers and his foot lift to take a step forward, without stepping on the flowers, but the action was never completed.

* * *

Zelgadis' eyes snapped open as he awoke. He didn't bolt up screaming and he wasn't drenched in a cold sweat either. He was just lying in the bed of the inn room that he shared with Gourry. He stared up at the ceiling. What had caused him to wake up? It was still the middle of the night, but the room sounded silent. He couldn't think of anything that might have woken him up, except himself… 

Zelgadis smirked bitterly to himself. That was it. He'd woken himself up. He was just 'stepping on the flowers' again… Or maybe not. That dream had really given him something to think about. Maybe he was supposed to complete the action of 'walking through the flowers' in reality? He knew that dreams sometimes carried symbolic meaning, but he'd never expected to have one where the meaning was so clearly defined. He began to stare out the window as he pondered the space between dream and reality…


End file.
